Disabled Air Force Veteran is Ultimate Champion

Air Force Competitor Earns ‘Ultimate Champion’ Title at Warrior Games
DoD News
By Shannon Collins Defense Media Activity
June 21, 2016

WEST POINT, N.Y., June 21, 2016 — Medically retired Air Force Master Sgt. Reese Hines earned the “Ultimate Champion” title and bragging rights at the 2016 Department of Defense Warrior Games at the U.S. Military Academy here.

2016 Department of Defense Warrior Games Shooting Competition
Air Force veteran Master Sgt. D. Reese Hines poses for a photo with a competition air rifle at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y., June 19, 2016. Hines was named the event’s Ultimate Champion after winning a series of events. DoD photo by EJ Hersom

From June 15 until today, about 250 wounded, ill and injured service members and veterans representing teams from the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force, U.S. Special Operations Command and United Kingdom armed forces competed in shooting, archery, cycling, track and field, swimming, sitting volleyball and wheelchair basketball.

He suffered damage to both eyes, and his right eye was surgically removed. His right hand was almost severed and was put back together, he said, though he lost his right index finger. His right wrist was fused, and some of his knuckles were fused to the right hand and thumb. He had a brain bleed, a traumatic brain injury, a bolt in his skull, a broken jaw, ruptured eardrums, soft-tissue damage to both arms, nerve damage to his leg and post-traumatic stress disorder. He’s gone through 30 to 40 surgeries.

Burnett was injured in July 2009 in Basra, Iraq, while serving as a computer networks operations technician. She served in the military 14 years. A rocket came in about 10 feet from where she was standing. Three of her fellow service members were killed, and two others were injured. She was knocked unconscious and suffered a TBI and PTSD from the incident.
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